In fact Carter (who wasn't #1 in her class) didn't start every game her whole career so thanks for making my point for me. Check the box scores.

As MG pointed out injuries were in play too. But here is the reality: Being #1 or #100 isn't the same in every class. Remember Kelly Hartig was the #4 post in her class when she came to Virginia and while she did some important things here no one would say that ranking was equal to the results.

Sam is a really good player but not in the class of Fudd (pre injury at least). There is a reason Sam slipped to #4 in rankings and Fudd, while injured, is still #1. Both could kick my and your a** all over the court as well as 95% of the poster on these boards. However at the elite level Sam is not the type of player who can carry a team right off the bat without help. Luckily for her (and bad for rest of ACC) has a group of freshmen who are highly ranked with more help. Now put Sam at Virginia with a good coach and she puts up better stats but her development as a player is probably hindered.

It's a fine line and I suspect Sam will have a long professional career. But the difference between a star and good professional player is so thin. Add in the job of the HC at Notre Dame is maximize talent in order to help the team win (and you I disagree about definition of Notre Dame's talentit is young but arguably top 15 in the nation for raw talent) have to try different combinations which you typically would have done in OOC play.
[Post edited by peeweehooman at 12/19/2020 12:52PM]